Daddy Issues, Part One
Daddy Issues, Part One is the sixth issue of the Angel & Faith comic book series. Synopsis Angel went to Highgate cemetery to pay his respects to Douglas Adams, who was buried there. He had found "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in a dumpster back in the '80s, which had helped him from committing suicide back then. Something else was there as well. Angel could smell the blood, but unfortunately it was gone now. And the blood trail led him to an area called Holly Lodge Estate where elderly people lived in public housing. A policeman stopped Angel, wanting to know what he wanted there, and Angel said he wanted to visit a friend. They went inside together while the policeman informed Angel that nothing usually happened or had happened lately, but as they opened the door of an apartment, the stench was unbearable. They found a man who had killed at least 3 elderly people standing on top of them, saying that they had the disease but now he had cut it out. He tried to "help" Angel and the policeman by trying to kill them. Angel fought back and knocked him unconscious. The policeman, impressed by his fighting skills, then told him to step back since it was a murder scene and asked him if he knew any of the dead. Angel said no, as he didn't think the one he was looking for had been there for a while. In the '70s, also in the Highgate Cemetery, young Giles, together with 4 other young people, all Watchers-in-training, seemed eager to complete their task to kill a vampire; Giles wanted to be careful about it, but only one other girl seemed to agree with Giles and his tactics. Before they finished discussing how they should look for the vampire and how to kill it, the vampire appeared in front of them. Giles realized there was something wrong with the vampire, but before he had the time to talk to the others, one of the boys, Philip, attacked the "vampire", which turned out to be a Lorophage Demon, much much stronger than vampires, which used its proboscis and needle-like fingers to draw any sustenance from the minds of his victims. The creature fed on its victims' traumatic experiences, a typically fatal process. The demon killed all the young Watchers one by one, draining the traumatic experiences of their Watcher training, reaching up to Giles at the end. Giles felt the process, he started remembering all his traumatic experiences, including the very last one of just seconds ago. Just before his end, two older Watchers, one of whom was Giles' father, came and attacked the demon and saved Giles' life. They had been watching the young ones from a distance, evaluating them, only a few seconds behind them, which were enough for the demon to slaughter them. The demon had already fed, and so it ran away from them. That was the day that Giles' innocence had perished. Giles' relationship with his father was already very tense, only to be made even worse by the events of that night. Giles blamed his father and called him a murderer, telling him that he had sent them to their death. His father said that it was a tragic event that the Council's intelligence was faulty about. Giles told him that they weren't ready for it, but his father replied that nobody was ever really ready for that job and that the specter of death was part of the life that they were chosen for. Giles replied that he hadn't chose anything, but his father insisted, the supernatural road was their heritage, their destiny, and they must serve it. Giles had already made up his mind and decided to run away from all of that and follow his own path. Unfortunately, he was hardly done with magic and death. Back in the present, Faith was in downtown London together with 2 other Slayers who were fighting a vampire while Faith took care of a girl that had been bitten by the vampire. Nadira was ready to dust the vampire, but right before she did, Faith grabbed her hand and stopped her, telling her to take a better look. He was not a vampire, but he was human, and Nadira almost killed him. The man said that "we wanted to be sired" and he asked for it, but since this was against "the rules", "she" didn't sire him. Faith told the girls to call the police and an ambulance. Nadira felt so guilty that she had almost become a murderer, only to feel even worse by saying that in front of Faith, but Faith knew that the only reason that she saw that coming tonight while being able to stop Nadira was because she had been on this road herself and made done the same mistake. Faith had dealt with it and paid for it, and now she had used her past mistakes to actually save a life. Faith asked the girls if they knew who the "she" in question was. Nadira said that it probably was the "Mother Superior". The third slayer said that the Mother Superior hadn't broken any of Harmony's rules, prompting Nadira to reply that they were vampire Slayers. Faith explained that it was still a gray area, but killing a vampire that followed the rules would only result in starting a war. What they needed was a reason to kill her, and since most vampires came with skeletons in their closets, Faith now was on to that. Later, Angel and Faith were training on the rooftop of Giles' residence. Faith told him about Mother Superior. Angel had heard of her, she attracted the goth crowd like flies but she obeyed the rules. Faith added that she stayed out of sight and she didn't use her real name. Angel told her that many vampires picked a different name when they got turned; it was a kind of tradition in some bloodlines and he didn't seem eager to deal with it. Faith drew his attention when she mentioned that she thought that Mother Superior was up to something since she had already run into 2 different nut jobs that tied to her; Angel had met one of them as well. Faith told him that she thought that his only mission was to bring back Giles, but Angel added that it was kind of related; he cross-checked the last entry in Giles' diary that was talking about the Lorophage demon with the Watchers' files and found out that the demon had hibernation cycles. They slept for decades and then woke up to feed themselves when "the stars of the old ones who birthed them align". They went to see Alasdair Coames, telling him about the Lorophage demon. He said that this kind of demon was capable of causing an epidemic of madness, but it was unlikely. There were cases of victims going completely mad from all the traumatic experiences that were forced to surface, but these were very rare, and only when the attack had been interrupted. The Lorophage demons preferred to drain every drop of their victims' brains, which killed them. Faith brought up Giles as an example, who had survived a Lorophage demon's attack and hadn't died or went mad. Alasdair countered that Faith had no knowledge of his days as Ripper. Faith still disagreed, saying that being young and stupid didn't make one crazy. Before things got worse between them, Angel interfered, wondering why the demon left the victims alive. Faith's theory was that the demon was being controlled, but Alasdair said that Lorophage demons were resistant to magic. Faith updated her theory saying that maybe the demon was hypnotized by someone. Alasdair told them that if theory was correct, that meant that this was a serious threat, and they must put aside whatever else they were working on and focus on that. Faith angrily told him they got it and they left the house. When outside, Angel asked her why she behaved like that, since they went to him to ask for his help. But Faith just thought that he talked too much like every old guy. She had asked the girls to check a little bit and Daphne texted her that the newest residents of Arkham Asylum, people who had lived through very traumatic experiences and would be the perfect meal for a Lorophage demon, have all gone mad and gotten obsessed with Mother Superior. But what Angel didn't understand was what does a vampire gain from making people crazy. There was only one way to find out. Daphne informed Faith that Mother Superior lived in a deconsecrated church that was turned into a nightclub and they decided to go and find her to end all this. They attacked going inside the church, asking the crowd, human groupies and minor vampires to take them to Mother Superior. But the crowd attacked and a fight started. Angel didn't have the patience for that, and most of all, he hated churches, since they brought back to him very bad memories. It turned out that nuns used to be his specialty; he would torture and then kill them, and he had a vivid imagination. One could say that that was Angelus, but Angel remembered everything and Angel knew what Angelus did and how good that made him feel. Some of his worst memories were from his time in London. So, wanting to end all this fighting, he knocked on a door trying to find Mother Superior, telling her that "it's time for confession, you go first, Mother Superior, it started by "Bless me..." But before he finished, he saw Drusilla inside the room sitting on a throne and being worshiped by her minions. She then told him that she knew what came next. After "bless me" came "Father...isn't that right?" Meanwhile, somewhere in a pub, a man approached Nadira and another slayer who were having a drink. He knew they were slayers and he was looking for Faith. Nadira told him that they had never heard of her, but even if they had, why should they tell him? The man replied that he had the best reason in the world, because he was her father. Angel thought that there was something not right with Drusilla. She told them she became somewhat nostalgic - a girl that almost became a nun so she decided to set up shop in a church. And the more things they changed the more they stayed the same. Angel then understood what isn't right with Drusilla; she was now sane! Continuity The story is set after "Live Through This", but before "Women of a Certain Age". *In the flashbacks of Giles' youth, he was revealed to have been the Head Boy of the Watchers Council at age 16. Ironically, fellow former Watcher Wesley was also the Head Boy of his age group, revealed in "Unleashed". *How Giles' rebellious side in his teens sprung out in the beginning was deeply elaborated. He would later delve deeper into black arts and magic with Ethan Rayne and others quickly afterward. This marked the first time in a while that Giles' darker beginning was shown. The last episodes to show this were "The Dark Age" and "Band Candy". *Nadira's near killing of a human on accident in the heat of battle mirror's Faith's actual murder of Allan Finch in "Bad Girls". Something she referenced (also seen in flashbacks). *Angelus's favorite killing act of nuns were referenced several times throughout the series, most notably in "Dear Boy" and "The Girl in Question". *This marked the first time Drusilla had been seen that wasn't in flashbacks since "Crush". It also marked the first time she was ever seen sane in the present. *This was also the first time that Faith met Drusilla. Ironically, it was because of Drusilla that Faith became a slayer, due to her killing of Kendra in "Becoming, Part One". Appearances Individuals *Angel *Faith Lehane *Drusilla *Highgate Vampire *Rupert Giles *Mr. Giles *Philip *Lucy *Charlotte *Daphne *Buffy Summers *Allan Finch *Nadira *George Lehane *Harmony Kendall Organizations and Titles Species *Vampire *Slayer *Human *Lorophage Demon Events Locations *London *Highgate Cementary *White Hart Pub Weapons and Objects Death Count *Three unidentified elderly people, murdered by an unnamed assailant. *Phillip, killed by a Lorophage Demon. (only in flashbacks) *Charlotte, killed by a Lorophage Demon. (only in flashbacks) *Two unidentified Watchers-in-training, killed by Lorophage Demon. (only in flashbacks) *A group of vampires, killed by Angel and Faith. Behind the Scenes Collections *''Daddy Issues'' Pop Culture References *While at Highgate cementary, Angel was apparently paying his respects to writer Douglas Adams. He wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, ''a book that kept Angel from killing himself during his 1980s-1990s depression. He also noted that Ray Davies and Rod Stewart also lived near there. *When Alasdair mentioned Giles' rebellious stage as a teenager, Faith scoffed and said "Being young and stupid doesn't make you Manson." Charles Manson was a famous murderer who killed several people before being incarcerated in prison. *Faith mentioned ''Arkham Asylum, a fictional insane asylum in the DC universe, usually related to Batman Quotes Gallery Previews AF6P1.jpg AF6P2.jpg AF6P3.jpg AF6P5.jpg AF6P4.jpg AF6P6.jpg nl:Daddy Issues, Deel Eén Category:Angel comics Category:Season Nine